Friday, February 6, 2015

Some Christians regard Muslims as the enemy, and are quick to link them all
to terrorists.Other Christians are just as eager to paper over differences
between the faiths and focus on, say, their common connection to Abraham.Joshua Ralston, a professor at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Va.,
sees a third way for Christians.

To approach Muslims with honesty about disagreements. With the love Jesus
calls on his followers to have for their neighbors. And with a freedom that
allows adherents of both faiths to bear witness to their beliefs – including
Christians’ claims about Jesus and Muslims’ claims about the Prophet
Muhammad.“If we’re going to improve our encounters with one another, we have to create
this space for us to both share what is deepest about what we believe,” he says.
“Friendship isn’t always marked by agreement. It’s marked by honesty and
exchange and trust.”Ralston, who lived in Egypt and the Palestinian West Bank in 2011-13, will
speak at 4 p.m. Sunday (Feb.8) at Charlotte’s Union Presbyterian Seminary, 5141
Sharon Road. The event is free. Here’s some of what he told me in an
interview.On the charge that moderate Muslims don’t condemn terrorism:
“Islam is a diverse religion – just like Christianity – and there are numerous
Muslims who have issued fatwas (Islamic rulings) against suicide bombings. There
is a massive statement signed by the heads of many major Islamic institutions
against ISIS. There are Muslims who are continually standing up against these
terrorist militant groups. And Muslims are the ones who have been killed more
than anyone else.”On Christian amnesia: “I don’t want to justify at
all what happened with the burning of the pilot from Jordan (by ISIS). But
I keep seeing all these Christians posting, ‘What religion would ever
do this?’ As if we’ve totally forgotten the Salem witch trials. As if we
(Presbyterians) totally forgot that John Calvin – one of the main founders of
the Reformed Presbyterian tradition – allowed for the burning of a heretic in
Geneva. That doesn’t justify it. But Christians – our hands aren’t clean
historically. And they aren’t clean right now: In the Central African Republic,
Christian militias are killing Muslims.”On Duke University’s plan – later reversed – to let Muslim students
use the chapel: “There are issues that need to be discussed: Is Duke’s
chapel a Christian space or a university space? But the virulent anti-Muslim backlash became the main issue. And yet when they decided to do the call to
prayer (outside the chapel), there were Christians from Duke Divinity School and
local pastors there there in support of the Muslims. That story needs to be told
as much as the Franklin Graham (reaction to Duke’s plan).”Being Christian in the Middle East: “You can’t be a Christian in Saudi Arabia publicly. But I think in our minds
we think all of the Arab world and all of the Muslim world is like that. That’s
not the case. I lived in Ramallah (in the Palestinian West Bank) for almost two
years. I went to church publicly, On Easter, Muslims would come out and
celebrate with Christians. And Christians would celebrate Ramadan with Muslims.”On Franklin Graham’s claim that Muslims worship a different God: “Christians and
Muslims both speak of the same God, but we speak about God differently and on
some of those points we disagree. Most Christians have this belief in the
Trinity. (Muslims don’t.) But neither do Jews. And I’m sure Franklin Graham
thinks Jews worship the same God.”

Friday, January 30, 2015

We Americans are a divided lot these days. The problem: Too many of us seem
eager to fight first and think later.Take religion, a subject where you’d expect some thoughtfulness, even
prayerfulness. Instead, the news is filled with war-like language over
everything from same-sex marriage to Islam to persecution of Christians.So let me ask you to cool your jets for a few minutes and ponder the
following cases – some real, some hypothetical. Here goes:

A bill was introduced this
week in the North Carolina Senate that would allow magistrates and registers of
deeds who object to marrying gay couples to recuse themselves for religious
reasons. What do you think? How about, say, Catholic magistrates and registers of
deeds who may object to marrying people who have been divorced?

The mayor of Atlanta dismissed the city’s fire chief this month after he called homosexuality “vile” in a book he
self-published and distributed to employees. What do you think? What if, say,
the chief had written that Jews were bound for hell if they don’t believe in the
divinity of Jesus?

What would you think about a
Muslim public school teacher who wore a hijab, or head scarf? How about a public
school teacher who wore a necklace that prominently displayed a Christian
cross?

In a case involving Hobby Lobby,
the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that corporations with religious owners
cannot be required to pay for insurance coverage for contraception. What do you
think? What about a company whose owners had religious objections to, say, blood
transfusions or even hospitalization?

Duke University recently sparked
an uproar when it planned – than canceled plans – to begin a weekly Muslim call
to prayer from the campus’ Christian chapel. What do you think? What would you
think if a mosque or synagogue refused worship space to a Christian student
group?

Saying employees are expected to
abide by Catholic doctrine, Charlotte Catholic High School recently severed ties with a popular teacher after he used Facebook to announce plans to marry his
male partner. What do you think? What if the high school had severed ties with a
teacher because he and his wife practiced birth control – also a violation of
church doctrine?

Does the violence of abortion
clinic bombers and the Ku Klux Klan color your view of all Christians? Does the
violence committed by radical jihadis color your view of all Muslims?

What do you think of cartoons
lampooning the Prophet Muhammad? How about cartoons making fun of Jesus?

My point: Us-vs.-them thinking often blinds us to the other side of an issue.
If you want others to respect your identity – religious or otherwise – start by
respecting theirs.-- Tim Funk

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Like other news outfits, the Observer does surveys to see what our readers
want more (and less) of when they open the paper or visit our website.Well, survey says … you want more info on things to do.On the faith & values beat, I interpret that to mean more about upcoming
speakers and events.Below are several I think may have wide interest. But first let me ask you to
share with me any lectures, celebrations, seminars and whatever that you think
would have public appeal.Send them to tfunk@charlotteobserver.comOK, ready with your calendars?

In February, several Catholic
churches in Charlotte will host courses as part of the winter semester of GIFT
(Growing in Faith and Theology). Fee: $30 or $20 for Catholic school teachers
and parish catechists. Brochures, course descriptions, dates, places, and
registration forms are here.

The courses include: “Three Sacred Pathways to God (Franciscan, Benedictine
and Ignatian)”; “Mercy, Jesus, Pope Francis and Me”; “World Religions”; “Short
History of the Catholic Church in North Carolina”; “Brew Like a Benedictine”;
and, in Spanish, “Los Sacramentos – Fuentes De Sanación." (This last course is free).

Poverty expert Donna Beegle will speak at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 3 at Wingate University in the Batte Center's McGee Theatre. The school is in Monroe. Beegle lives in Oregon and is the author of "See Poverty. Be the Difference."

She was born into a migrant family, married at 15, was homeless for 28 years, and is the only member of her family who has not been incarcerated. She went on to get a doctorate and is now president of Communication Across Borders.

Friday, January 16, 2015

If you're looking for a movie with real religion -- as well as historical
context, emotional complexity, political savvy and inspiring humanity -- I have a
recommendation.

Go see “Selma,” the Oscar-nominated film about the civil rights marches that
brought voting rights to African-Americans in the South in the 1960s.

Like the best films about religion – “Dead Man Walking,” “Shadowlands,” “Of
Gods and Men” – “Selma” centers on imperfect people struggling to walk the talk
of faith.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (played superbly by British actor David
Oyelowo) clearly shines as a leader with vision and moral
courage. But gifted director Ava DuVernay also lets us see his behind-the-scene battles with
doubt, indecision and the tension in his marriage to Coretta Scott King (Carmen
Ejogo, also British and also excellent).

Such burdens give rise to a private dream, voiced by King in the opening
scene, of a life away from the limelight, as the pastor of a small church in a
university town.
But this Baptist preacher, his wife and his lieutenants soldier on, looking
to God in those moments of hopelessness, despair – and awe.

Feeling drained and discouraged one night, King calls and wakes up gospel
singer Mahalia Jackson, telling her he needs to hear the voice of the Lord.
Obligingly, and movingly in the film, she sings over the phone, “Precious Lord,
Take My Hand.”

Then later, after a helmeted Alabama state trooper shoots and kills
Jimmie Lee Jackson, a young civil rights worker, we see King,
tears brimming, try to console the martyr’s 82-year-old grandfather at the
morgue. “God was the first to cry,” King tells the grieving old man, “the first
to cry for your boy.”
“Selma” will make you tear up, for sure. With sadness at the evil humans are
capable of, but also with joy at the faith-based solidarity so many display.

Take the scene where we see the result of King's call for reinforcements for the 54-mile march to Montgomery. Many thousands from around the country drive and fly to Selma, including Jewish rabbis, Catholic nuns, a Greek Orthodox archbishop and the Rev. James Reeb, a Unitarian Universalist minister from Boston who was to be murdered by racist thugs.

Biblical epics and churchy dramas are fine. But for those clamoring for movies that convey the positive power of religion, I say: Go see “Selma.”

Upcoming events

Two of the many Charlotte events marking Dr. King’s upcoming holiday testify
to the religious roots of the civil rights movement:

The Rev. Clark Olsen will speak
Sunday (Jan. 18), 9:15 a.m. and 11:15 a.m., at Unitarian Universalist
Church of Charlotte, 234 North Sharon Amity Road. Olsen was a young UU minister
in March 1965 when he answered King’s call for clergy to come to Selma and
march. And he was there when his friend, the Rev. Reeb, was beaten to death by a
white mob.

Former NAACP President Benjamin
Jealous will be the keynoter at 8 a.m. Monday (Jan. 19) at the YMCA of Greater Charlotte’s 21st annual MLK
Holiday Prayer Breakfast. More than 1,100 people are expected at the Charlotte
Convention Center’s Crown Ballroom in uptown. Jealous plans to challenge the
audience by asking: What is that one big thing you are going to change
in your community before you die?

Friday, January 2, 2015

In how many languages do people in Charlotte worship God these days?I listed 20 that I knew of in a column last month. I should have said 21
because – as some of you pointed out – I failed to include what’s still the most
prevalent worship language in town: English.Oops! (Since the 1930s, that’s been an English word for acknowledging a
blunder.)My other mistake: I should have said that Haitian congregations here have
services in Creole, not French.I also invited you to alert me about other worship languages here that I
was not aware of. Thanks to those who told me about:22. Burmese. And 23. Hakha Chin.Refugee congregations from war-torn Myanmar have been worshiping at Park Road
Baptist Church and at Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church.

24. Portuguese.Brazilian members have services at Cokesbury United Methodist Church.25. American Sign Language (ASL).At Chapel for the Deaf, housed at Ascension Lutheran Church, worshipers pray
and sing with their hands.26. French. 27. Nepali (from Nepal). And
28. Tamil (from Sri Lanka and India).Jehovah’s Witnesses have meetings available in many languages, including
these.

Mass en Español

Speaking of language, I also ran across this fascinating factoid in my
reporting:Nearly 30 percent of Catholic parishes now celebrate Mass in a language other than English – a
7 percent increase since 2000, according to “The Changing Face of U.S. Catholic
Parishes” study from the Center for Applied Research at Georgetown
University.In the 19th and early 20th centuries, waves of Irish, Italian, Polish and
other immigrant groups found refuge in a Catholic Church. The descendants of that first generation of immigrants have long since become part
of the broad American mainstream.But today, new waves of immigrants, particularly from Latin America, are
again enriching the Catholic Church in the U.S.To be sure, many immigrants from traditionally Catholic countries such as
Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras are finding spiritual homes in
non-Catholic churches – Pentecostal, evangelical, mainline Protestant and
Mormon.By 2050, Hispanics are expected to account for 60 percent of Catholics in the
U.S. They already make up about half of the more than 340,000 Catholics in the
46-county Diocese of Charlotte.